Hand Tool Teaser

Dewalt has also expanded their non-impact mechanics hand tools. At the media event, a product manager had given me a stubby 11/32″ wrench, which symbolized 2 things. First, that he followed ToolGuyd posts and reader comments (HI!!). Second, that Dewalt was making an effort to expand their mechanics hand tool offerings.

What’s so special about 11/32″? It’s a size of wrench and socket I use fairly often, and corresponds to the size of 8-32 nuts. A lot of wrench sets aimed at automotive use exclude 11/32″, and some brands don’t even offer 11/32″ as an individual tool. Aerospace and industrial brands do tend to offer 11/32″ wrench and socket sizes.

So I use 11/32″ as a quick test to see whether a wrench set or product lineup is aimed at automotive use (or general DIY use in the case of consumer brands), or industrial use.

With knowledge that Dewalt offered an 11/32″ wrench, and a cute little sample/gift in-hand, I’ve been actively watching for new releases.

At the 2016 media event I kind of raced through the end, since I was a bit behind and had to fit 3 rotations in the time it normally takes to work through 1.

With new SKUs appearing on Amazon and elsewhere, it’s time to revisit my media event photos and notes. That’ll come in another post, I’ve already digressed too much from impact tools.

40 Comments

I wish that these tools would come in T-stak or tough system-compatible boxes!! or that they would sell inserts for the boxes that would accommodate these sets (and all of the other tools for that matter!) Why are tool specific cases available in Europe, but not the US?

Looking at the picture, it looks like there are side latches for stacking these cases. The cut off corners are all similar to the Tstak line. Now you have me wondering if this case will stack with those or just with itself. With the stacking latch, it seems like we will see more of these cases either way.

Any indication of the Country of Origin? It would be nice to know if these are as good or similar quality of say the MAC tools. Part of me wished they would have branded this under the Stanley name or something and keep Dewalt in the power tool line.

Huh? Where are you getting this information? I have quite a few of the mechanics tools from DeWALT and they are manufactured in Tiwian. Very good chrome and tight tolerances as well. To just blankly state “China” without having a clue is a bit irresponsible in my opinion.

Politics and semantics aside, tools coming from Taiwan are generally considered a step higher/better than those coming from China, but there could be many specific examples of exemptions.

Whether this is true or not is a separate discussion.

I’ve seen some great tools from Taiwan, and some good tools from China. I’ve seen some really bad tools from China, but don’t recall any bad tools from Taiwan. Good or bad depends on the effort, budget, and oversight that a brand is willing to put into their overseas contracts or facilities.

Milwaukee (and TTI), and I’m sure Stanley Black & Decker, own a number of factories, allowing them to control every step of the production process. So whether a tool is made in the USA or elsewhere, the quality should be good.

I’m getting this information from picking up every DeWalt Impact Ready tool at my local Sears and Lowe’s, looking at the back to see what it says, and reading the words “Made in China”.

There might be some of the hand tools Made in Taiwan, if so, I’d agree they are likely of higher quality than similar tools Made in China.

I’m not knocking the DeWalt tools by the way, just stating where they are mostly made. The hand tools seem to get good reviews and are apparently a decent option, especially if you like DeWalt products and having branded hand tools to go with the power tools works for you.

I wished they wouldn’t have cheapened the Dewalt name. Dewalt needs their sockets made in the USA. The reason I’m saying this is because Dewalt is an USA icon.
Stanley cheapened the Bostich name badly, making them Stanley Bostich. Which Bostich is an icon in air nailers. I hate when companies give in and cheapen their products.

DeWalt hasn’t had anything made in the USA in a long, long time. A few of their power tools are assembled in the USA, though. I don’t think Stanley Black & Decker manufacturers much in the USA anymore, maybe a few thing from MAC tools and Proto. DeWalt is just their popular brand they milk for it’s name recognition. The sockets and hand tools are just Stanley-made stuff from China-Taiwan with the DeWalt name slapped on it to appeal to people who like the brand or have DeWalt power tools and like the idea of having their hand tools bearing the DeWalt name too.

This makes some sense – either to sell along side or bundle with Dewalt impact drivers.
In the 1980’s Skil sold their 471 corded impact wrench in a kit – metal case and a few SAE impact sockets included in a tray built into the case.

As a bit of history, Skil – a brand that existed since 1926 – was acquired by Emerson Electric in 1979, Emerson formed a joint venture (SB Power Tools) with Bosch in 1991 and then sold out to Bosch in 1995. More recently – as posted in ToolGuyd – Bosch sold the Skil Brand to Chervon

I saw a bunch of these at Farm and Fleet for the first time on Saturday, along with most of the pieces being available as open stock items individually. I wonder who the OEM is as I’m guessing these are really just licensed products. Gearwrench?

Definitely not GearWrench. They come from Apex which is a direct competitor the owners of DeWalt. They’re coming out of Taiwan according to their website. That’s the same country of origin as MAC, etc. Add that to the MUCH lower price, better case, lifetime warranty and the fact you can swap them out at the local hardware store and I’d say this is a huge win.

There is not much information (about the production facility) to be gleaned from the UPC on each of these sets. Both start with 076174 – which is the same company prefix on lots of other tools carrying the Dewalt, Bostich and Stanley brand names.

If you want sockets from SBD that are mostly made in the USA – the Stanley Proto line of sockets might be where you have t go. Here’s what PROTO says about COO on their website:

“WE ARE MADE IN AMERICA.
We make tools in America; Not because it’s cheaper and not because it’s convenient. We don’t even do it out of a sense of pride (although we are proud of the U.S.A.). We make tools in America, because put simply…it’s how we can ensure making the best quality tool we can. And in the rare instance when we can’t make a tool in America, we do so because… again, making the highest quality tools comes first. “

It is good indeed to see Ideal’s apparent commitment to manufacturing the SK line in the US. Back in the 2007 and 2008 timeframe – perhaps when SK (then independent) was having financial problems – some SK pliers (the 17851 and 17852 compound action nose pliers) were showing up – made in China – and some of their spline wrenches were being sourced from Taiwan. But back in 2002 they also had some of their Torx sockets and wrenches sourced from Italy and Germany.

I’m wary of “made in America.”
At the store I work at we sell plywood that says in bold letters “made in North America.” Translation: made in Mexico or Canada. It’s a semantics trick some companies employee to fool customers.
Just saying, unless it specifically says “made in USA,” you have to be careful.

Made in North America could be Canada, USA, Mexico. Depending on whether the designation if NAFTA dependent, it could also include any of the countries between Mexico and Panama, inclusive, plus the Caribbean.

Yes, it is worthwhile to keep an eye out for that geographic adjective, “North”, or for that matter, “South”. How worthwhile depends on the product in question.

My guess is that the new Dewalt impact sockets and probably most of their soon to be released mechanics tools will be rebadged “Expert” tools. Expert is MAC’s current value line of imported tools.
No, not all MAC tools are made in Taiwan or China, people’s republic of. There are still many MAC tools that have USA stamped into them.

DeWalt’s “Impact Ready” line seems like such an obvious thing – offer packages of impact accessories for the impact drivers.

Kind of sad there isn’t more on offer from Bosch/Milwaukee for their impact drivers. They offer lots of drill bits and accessories, not very much for the impact drivers aside from bit kits, at least that I’ve seen at retail.

To be fair, DeWalt has a huge built-in advantage with Stanley Black & Decker as their parent company, who produces lots of impact sockets and accessories for air tool use.

Also seems like a bad thing to me that SB&D is going to have so many brands and so many offerings for the same basic hand tools between Stanley, Black & Decker, Bostitch, Irwin, Mac, Proto, Blackhawk, and now Craftsman. Something is going to give.

This is a little off topic, but I have been waiting for Dewalt to offer a 3/8 inch impact wrench, brushless, using the 20 v battery packs of which I have several.
I already have the 1/4 impact driver, and I love it, but I could use something with just a little more “oomph”.
So I see that they have released a 3/8 brushless, but it has almost identical torque as the 20 volt 1/4″ impact driver (about 150 ft. pounds). What is the point?
Milwaukee’s 3/8 brushless, using the 18volt Fuel system, gets 200 foot pounds of torque, 1/3 more than the Dewalt (either Dewalt!).
What gives?